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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/5/2012 - Regular42111OF MvInIk" a I BIN IN NJ I LR LSM SPIWAR a R rMil V -w-M-0 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Carolyn D. Fidler, Vice Mayor (for work session) Robert R. Altice Matthew S. Hare William W. Nance STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ben Cook, Police Chief Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director Lijah Robinson, Finance Department Lydia Verdillo, Finance Department Brenda McGuire, Public Works Joe Petry, Public Works Mike Faw, Public Works The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll cali'i The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Altice, Council Member Hare, Council Member Nance, and Mayor Grose present. The Mayor advised that Council needed to go into a Closed Meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-3711 (A) (1) of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as Amended, for Discussion or Consideration of Personnel Matters relating to the annual evaluation of the Town Manager. Mr. Nance made a motion that Council go into Closed Meeting; the mofion was seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None, AbsentFidler. At 7:15 pm the regular meeting reconvened and the Certification that the Closed Meeting was held in accordance with State Code requirements was approved on motion by Mr. Hare, seconded by Mr. Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting. Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Fidler. The Mayor welcomed those in attendance. After a Moment of Silence, Mr. Altice led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Mr. Nance made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice • •* • the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; None; Absent (1) - Fidler. The Mayor presented to the Finance •*#. Certificate • Achievement for Excellence ir. Financial Reporting for Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2011. Mr. Thompson came forward to receive the award and mentioned that this is the 17 Ih year that the Department has received this award. Lijah Robinson and Lydia Verdillo were also present. Mr. Thompson expressed appreciation to his staff and the hard work that they •# Mr. Hare and Mr. Nance also expressed their appreciation to the progress this Department has made 4# !N-'0,fWIW-aMPAkYOVS ;k-' quality service to the citizens. Mr. Altice also commented that Mr. Thompson has taken the Finance Department to a different level. The next recognition was the 18th Annual Communicator Award of Distinction awarded to the Town's website in conjunction with Civic • The members of the Website Design Team were Mary Beth Layman, William Crumpacker, Brenda McGuire, Jimmy Testerman and Julie Tucei. Chief Cook introduced several officers who were present - Daniel King, Todd Bailey, Fabricio Drumond, and Robert Eakin. Approved minutes of May 8, 2012 and May 15,2012 The Town Manager made brief comments on the - Adopted Resolution No. 1968 Resolution to approve the appropriating of $6,696.19 appropriating $6,696.19 received received from insurance claims and reimbursements to from insurance claims and pay for repair work on two guard rails in the Town. Mr. reimbursements to pay for repair Hare made a motion to approve the Resolution as work on two guard rails in the presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Nance and Town. carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose, Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Fidler. 9 which will be funding at the alternate rate of 70% for two years and then the rate will be re-evaluated. The second Resolution related to setting the schedule for implementation of member contributions by salary reductions to the VRS. 11,114,121 WMINOTIM-41115M*00 I MOMI a I I I fol W.&TAM a I a Lot W, 11 Kip) W1 U= LO kh Mr. Nance made a motion to approve the Resolution setting the employer contribution rate to the Virg Retirement System at 8.48%; the motion was secondeit' A y Mr. Altice and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Fidler. IN T also give them the 5raise to cover that. The Town Manager responded that only if Council chooses to. The 5.75% raise is intended for Plan 1 employees. Mr. Hare then stated that Plan 2 employees would not receive the 5.75% raise to cover their contribution and the Town Manager responded they would not. That would apply to seven Town employees; however, Council can decide to give those seven employees the 5.75% raise as well. It has already been figured into the budget. Mr. Altice made a motion to approve the Resolution setting the schedule of implementation of member contributions by salary reductions to the VRS; the motion was seconded by Mr. Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Mr. Altice made a motion to adopt the Ordinance approving the FY2012-2013 budget; the motion was seconded by Mr. Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Fidler. This will include the $2,500 adjustment to Council's budget for a recognition event for the Town's vAlunteers. Adopted Resolution No. 19 setting the employer contributi to the Virginia Retirement Syste at 8.48%. Adopted Resolution No. 1970 setting the schedule Of implementation of member contributions by salary reductions to the Virginia Retirement System Adopted Ordinance No. 925 approving the FY2012-2013 budget with the addition of $2,500 to Council's budget for a recognition event for the Town's volunteers 91 The Mayor expressed thanks again to staff and the Finance Committee on their hard work on the budget. The next Resolution on the agenda related to amending the Town Manager's Employment Agreement. Mr. Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Fidler. The Mayor expressed appreciation for the reports that t are being furnished to Council from the Police and Public Works Departments. Mr. Hare gave brief comments on the financiaI report for April. The minutes of the Finance Committee prepared by Mr. Thompson were given to Council which gave most of the detail of the meeting. Mr. Hare commented that cash flow for the Town continues to be strong and that our revenues are running over the projection and expenditures are running under the projection. Mr. Thompson was able to move some of the Town's additional funds to a higher yield investment and we now have $1.6 million eaming a higher yield. The debt set-off program has Itn very successful up 22% from last year. The issue of the deposit policy was reviewed again by the Committee and it will be brought back to Council at a later date for consideration. Mr. Hare made a motion to accept the financial report for April, 2012 as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Fidler Comments by Council Members --Mr. Nance again expressed thanks for everyone's work on the budget and how smooth it went this year. Each Department made reasonable requests and even though a modest raise is being given this year, it is well over -due. He also commented that the Wine Festival sponsored by the Chamber was a great event this year. Mr. Hare expressed thanks to Public Works for the event they had during Public Works week. ogag RM Adopted Resolution No. 1971 amending the Employment Agreement dated September 3, 2008 between the Town and the Town Manager Accepted financial report for April 2012. M Imam Mr. Nance made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Hare, and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Nays (0) - None. The regular meeting was adjourned at 7:57 p.m, Council then went into a work session. The Town Manager made brief comments concerning the Glade - Tinker Creek Interceptor Project. The project is being brought back to Council for an update and to discuss options for additional funding, The sewer line has to be fixed and now VIDOT has scheduled the Walnut Street bridge replacement for the Summer of 2013. This project has been bid out twice and it is still over our budgeted amount. Gary Woodson went over a Power Point presentation beginning with a timeline for the project. In October of 2009 a letter was sent to Anderson & Associates to begin engineering services and the first bid opening was on July 26, 2011 . There was only one submission fromConner which was 273% over the engineer's estimate. The project was re -designed and the second bid opening was on May 1, 2012. There were three submissions the second time and all three came over the engineer's estimate. The first bid included a base bid and four alternatives. A question was asked about what are alternatives. Mr. Woodson explained that the base bid is the critical area that needs to be addressed and the alternatives are added to complete the project. Mr. Hare asked if we ever have a reason to go back to the engineer and ask I k .1* 4 MINIM I For the second bid, the project was re -designed and included the base bid and one alternative. Three bids were submitted the second time and Allegheny Construction came in as the low bidder. However, their bid was still 214.48% over the engineer's estimate. Mr. Woodson then reviewed the current available funding. The original funding amount was $394,613. To date we have spent $130,087 for engineering services. Mr. Hare asked if we used the same 0 engineering firm and the response was yes. He then asked if they gave us any credit and the response was that to date a credit has not been issued. We have a balance of $264,526 remaining. If we award the contract to Allegheny (the lowest bidder) of $645,170, add a contingency of 30% or $114,193, the amount of additional funding needed is $494,837. Mr. Woodson stated that reasons why the bids were so high could be due to contractors having an uncertainty/ iiscomfort with site conditions; the recession and being unwilling to take risks; the first bid included railroad crossing (which was addressed in second bid); higher *iJ prices; and limits imposed by the permits for the creek crossing. From the Town's perspective, the project is straightforward by using existing trenches, limited rock and no pipe crossing. Vice Mayor Fidler asked if the work that AEP is doing in that area would help the situation and the response was no. The Mayor asked for clarification about using pass the system and then lay the new line in the same trench. The Mayor asked if we could contact the contractors who bid on the project to see what their concerns were. Mike Faw indicated that with the first bid, the concern was the boring and getting the percentage the engineer wanted to see. That concern was expressed at the pre - bid meeting by A. J. Conner and it scared all the other contractors and they did not submit a bid. Mr. Woodson has not heard specifically from the contractors themselves, just the conversation he had with the engineering firm. Mr. Nance asked if we could just do the base project without any alternatives or would we be half -way fixing the problem. Mr. Woodson said we need to do both, but the alternative could be done by other means such as doing in-house with the help of a contractor. Mr. Nance then asked does it make sense to fix as much as possible the first time to do it right. The response was if we do the base and the alternative it will complete the project as it has been designed the second time. The Town Manager commented that we can discuss the alternative part with the contractor, but it may be best to just get funding for the project as a whole. 0 with the available funds will fund the base bid and the alternative and the response was yes. The available funds are left over from bonds we got in 2007 for several other projects. Mr. Thompson indicated that we need to go ahead and use this money. Mr. Woodson indicated that because of the log perch we need to award a contract and begin the work next month. The Town Manager indicated that we would have to took at obtaining a construction loan to begin the project and when we go out for the bond next year for our part of the Western Virginia Water Authority sewer plant upgrades that we can .•i this amount to that bond and pay off the construction loan. Mr. Hare asked if Mr. Woodson would consider this project his number one priority and he responded yes. He commented that we have invested significant funding in the design, have gone out twice to bid and have trimmed down as best we could and • we have a timeframe. The Mayor asked if the new bridge would go over top of the existing pipe • the response was yes. The project needs to be completed before the bridge is done. The Mayor asked if the bridge was constructed first, could we put this project off a year or so to have more time to seek additional funding and the response was that the cost of the project would definitely go up. Also, a cut would have to be made in the bridge or a bore. It would be more cost effective for us to •# our project first and let VIDOT work around us. Our A&E firm and VDOT are working closely together to make sure both projects will work together. The Town Manager indicated that we have to look at some funding options and bring back to Council. Mr. Woodson further commented that by doing the re- design, the project was lowered by $1 million. The Mayor asked if a design -build concept would be possible for a project like this and the response was that the design is already completed. Comments were made about the estimates of the engineer being so high and that the Town may need to consider whether they would use this engineering firm again. The Town Manager reiterated that the proposal would be to get a construction loan to begin the project and then add that amount to the bond request along with the Western Virginia Water Authority sewer plant upgrade. 19 APPROVED:, Bra ley E. 'o Gro e, Wor ATTEST- �aft/q Y' Susan N. Johnson, own Clerk L.*i WHEREAS, the Town Council of the Town of Vinton, Virginia has convened a closed meeting on this date, pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and, WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Vinton Town Council that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia Law, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Vinton Town Council hereby certifies th I to the best of each • knowledge: 0 1. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from opening meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies; and 2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Town Council. Motion made by Council Member Hare, and seconded by Council Member Nance, with all in favor. AYES: Altice, Hare, Nance, Mayor Grose Clerk of Council